Slade House, Slade Alley. We enter it with different narrators from 1979 to the present in nine yearly intervals. Initially each section is like a separate short story with the mysterious house the link but it soon becomes clear that the occupants are the actual link. The house is a vessel, a “lacuna” in an “operandi” where our story becomes uncanny. Those who enter it disappear; a mother and a son, a police officer, a student. Three episodes which prompt an American journalist to investigate the disappearance of her sister and so a lot of fascinating back story is revealed. Mitchell is a highly respected literary author who is having the most enormous fun with a twisted dark tale. He is a joy to read and this improbable, far-fetched, intriguing story is a true delight. With a huge amount of plot in just a few pages (233) it eventually moves into his The Bone Clocks territory. Beautifully designed, you may read it on screen but I do urge you to buy a copy for the pure pleasure of owning such a lovely article. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
'ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANTLY INVENTIVE WRITERS OF THIS, OR ANY, COUNTRY' INDEPENDENT 'Deliciously creepy' SUNDAY TIMES 'Irresistible' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Skin-crawling' OBSERVER 'Manically ingenious' GUARDIAN 'An elegant fright-fest' THE TIMES The chilling seventh novel from the critically acclaimed author of Cloud Atlas and Utopia Avenue Turn down Slade Alley - narrow, dank and easy to miss, even when you're looking for it. Find the small black iron door set into the right-hand wall. No handle, no keyhole, but at your touch it swings open. Enter the sunlit garden of an old house that doesn't quite make sense; too grand for the shabby neighbourhood, too large for the space it occupies. A stranger greets you and invites you inside. At first, you won't want to leave. Later, you'll find that you can't. This unnerving, taut and intricately woven tale by one of our most original and bewitching writers begins in 1979 and comes to its turbulent conclusion around Hallowe'en, 2015. Because every nine years, on the last Saturday of October, a 'guest' is summoned to Slade House. But why has that person been chosen, by whom and for what purpose? The answers lie waiting in the long attic, at the top of the stairs . . . PRAISE FOR DAVID MITCHELL 'A thrilling and gifted writer' FINANCIAL TIMES 'Dizzyingly, dazzlingly good' DAILY MAIL 'Mitchell is, clearly, a genius' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'An author of extraordinary ambition and skill' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'A superb storyteller' THE NEW YORKER
